COUNTY Cup games can on occasions, be quite feisty affairs with teams going hammer and tong for the knockout blow.

But in this encounter, so comfortable and in control were Otley Town, that it turned out to be a fairly tame affair.

In fact the telling words of one G and C player late in the game “we haven’t turned up and you’ve played us off the park” said it all.

G and C, thanks to a Covid promotion, are now playing in the Premier Division of the WYAFL and although they are struggling they’ve lately had a couple of decent results and in theory were expected to provide a strong test for Otley.

Nothing of the sort.

Otley were up for the challenge and pretty much dominated proceedings from the off. Witness the fact - home keeper Damo Brodowski was called on just the once - in the second half - to make a telling save - albeit a very good one tipping over a well struck drive.

Town took the lead on 12 minutes when Harry Hawkins broke the visitors high line and coolly fired home. C and G were adamant he was offside - the ref did not agree and sin binned the loudest protestor.

With a man advantage Otley continued to dominate but it took them a further 30 minutes to get the scoreboard moving again.

It was a goal worth waiting for. Pete Long started it with a diagonal ball wide on the right which was beautifully controlled by Hawkins.

Without hesitation his early driven cross caught the visitors defence napping and timing his run to perfection Bobby Neesam was in the right place to turn home.

A 2-0 lead at half time suggests a box seat place but concede a quick goal and it’s game on. Otley weren’t having any of it and 5 minutes into the second half Neesam broke through a square and static defence for a clinical finish and at 3-0 it was game over.

The rest of the game was much ado about nothing with Otley firmly in control.

Of note - Ben Driffield and Tristan Holdsworth - both playing out of position did remarkably well.

Skipper Rick Parry put in another very consistent performance as did Joe Flaherty but for his energy and opportunistic goals MOM goes to Bobby Neesam.

Elsewhere, the Reserves and Thirds were narrowly beaten in the Challenge Trophy and the Fourths just missed out in the League.

Next up, the Firsts travel to Featherstone Colliery in WYAFL Division 1, the Reserves host Beeston St Anthony’s in WYAFL Alliance 1, the Thirds host Grindleton in Craven Division 2 and the Fourths travel to Rolls Royce Res in Craven Division 3.